Sanjay, who had made a mark through his right arm off-break bowling in first-class cricket, was not arrested till evening. Police, who booked him on several charges following a complaint by his wife Swapna, a civil engineer by profession, was hot on the trail for Sanjay.
"We raided his rented house in Bhubaneswar and paternal residence at Rupadeipur near Pipili, but both the houses were found locked. He and his family members were untraceable," Mahila police station in-charge officer Anita Pradhan told TOI. "We are not able to establish contact with them because their mobile phones were switched off," Pradhan said. Sanjay works in a leading telecom service provider at Bhubaneswar.
Swapna's mother Swarnalata Upadhyay said Sanjay and his family had been torturing her for dowry ever since the couple was married in February 2011. It was an arranged marriage, she said. "Sanjay threw my daughter out of house on October 23. He forcibly took 11-month-old son with him," Swarnalata said.
"We had approached the Mahila police on Saturday. Sanjay's elder brother assured that he would hand over the child to Swapna next day. But we waited till hours together on Sunday; he did not turn up," Swarnalata stated.
Sanjay, who debuted in Ranji Trophy against Maharashtra in 1995-96, rubbished the allegation of dowry torture. "Neither me nor my family demanded dowry from her. None in my family beat her either. The accusations are baseless," he spoke over phone. Sanjay refused to divulge the cause of the discord between him and Swapna, saying "it's purely personal."
Sanjay's elder brother and mother, who she had accused of torture, were not available for comment. His ailing mother underwent a surgery in stomach on Saturday.
Sanjay, who bagged 208 scalps from 63 first-class matches called a day to cricket nearly three years ago. Police said there was little chance of arranging counseling between the married couple before the registration of case against the ex-cricketer. "We did not get chance to counsel the couple because she was hell bent to see him behind the bar," in-charge officer Pradhan said.
Incidentally, police had last February arrested former captain of Odisha Ranji team Prabhanjan Mallick on charge of torturing his wife Cini Mohanty after she lodged a complaint at the Mahila police station.
Link: Ex-Ranji cricketer booked for dowry torture
No comments:
Post a Comment